frozen
by thir13enth
Summary: Time travel was lonely. So she'd resort to having an affair. The only difference was that no one would ever know about it. Amber/Hei


**Ack! Haven't been on fanfiction for the longest time! And I've missed this fandom a bunch!**

**Anyway, here's a Hei/Amber short—thought I'd keep it separate from my other collection of drabbles. :)**

* * *

Time travel was lonely. So she'd resort to having an affair.

Well, it was like an affair.

The only difference was that no one would ever know about it.

Hell, she doubted even _he_ knew about it.

And even if he did, she didn't really care.

* * *

She called it eloping, even though it was quite the opposite.

No one was running away.

Everything was just frozen in time.

Like a predatory bird swooping in on its prey, she'd come falling from the sky whenever she spotted him.

She'd land gracefully—she'd been through the same routine many times, after all—and rush up to him, tiptoeing to match his height with her eternal youth.

"I've missed you, Hei," she'd say, her fluttered breath on his lips and her desperate hands at resting at his collar. "I've missed you _so_ much."

She'd look into his eyes as though he would reply to her, give her ears a taste of his velvet voice.

But he'd say nothing, stiller than death.

To her, it was just connecting the dots in the silence.

"I know," she'd reply. "I'm sorry I haven't checked in with you in a while. We've both been so busy lately." Then she'd add, "I'm glad you're safe."

_That you're still alive, _her thoughts would clarify.

"Me?" and she'd point a dainty finger at the crevice right above her well-filled chest. "I haven't been up to much…I've just been worrying about you…"

She liked to mess with his hair too. Comb the silken raven strands back, run it through her fingers like the smooth water of a river, give it a little twirl—a little tug if she was feeling wildly passionate.

"Oh no, don't worry about me. I'm having it easy compared to you," she'd retort.

Sometimes she'd fix his shirt. Center the collar so that he didn't look as disheveled. Unbutton a couple of buttons—he usually did have his shirt opened up a bit after all…

"You should take a break," she'd suggest. "Stay a while with me. We'll tour the whole world together."

She'd wait for him to disagree, and then move her hands down from his shoulders to encircle his arms, massage the firm muscles and tell him that he's working himself too hard.

"I know you only do it because you can't say no. You're too kind to be a contractor, you know?"

He'd keep his silence, and she could only guess that even if he was alive at his own will, he'd do the same. Here she'd just hold him tight and place her ear against his chest, hear his strong and determined heart—or at least hear it from her memories of when they had been in each other's arms in South America.

She'd never hear the music of his heartbeat while they eloped; time stopped for no one, after all.

And when it tripped, everything else fell down.

"Off to another mission, huh?" she'd conclude when her mind couldn't fill in the blanks. "Okay, I should be on my way as well."

She'd stop thinking for a second, get herself lost in the contours of his face for another while—soft unblemished skin, chiseled jaw and well-defined nose, sweet almond eyes the darkest shade of blue, gracefully arched eyebrows, ears that begged to be nibbled, and barely enough wrinkles than the stress of a contractor's life deserved.

Finally, she'd close the space between them—that criminal couple of inches that didn't deserve to exist. She'd stretch even higher on her toes, close her thick-lashed eyes, press all of herself and her adoration of him onto those few seconds that she was one with him.

Then she'd withdraw. Slowly, like she was trying to savor every last bit of dark chocolate on her tongue.

And with a bittersweet aftertaste on her lips, she'd then watch him forever like this, wrapped in her cold arms.

But there was no such thing as eternity—except for the time that he was out of her grasp—and his time-frozen skin would eventually grow cold.

What was love—embracing a stiff body—anyway?

"Bye then, Hei," she'd sigh. Once more, she'd see his eyes—

They were never focused on her, but she could still see herself in the pools of ebony blue, and that was more than enough.

"_Ja ne_."

And again, she'd walk away from him, growing a few years younger, and watch him from her roost up in a skyscraper where no one would dare crane their neck to look.

He'd stop where he was for the moment—blink away her reflection in his eyes, look at his hands as though he had lost someone he was once holding, breathe in a warm fragrance that had slipped his memories, touch his lips like he had missed something…

Then he'd furrow his eyebrows, question his unease, and shrug off his doubt, continuing along at the same pace and fixing his collar—smooth out the wrinkles of unrequited caresses.

She knew he never realized that she stole kisses from him.

She liked to pretend that he just didn't care.

* * *

**Let me know what you guys thought!**

**thir13enth**


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